The present invention is generally directed to a system and method for capturing body tissue samples. The present invention is more particularly directed to such a system and method which finds particular application for the isolation, resection, and capture of lymph nodes or other tissue.
One important step in the treatment of pulmonary cancer is nodule resection for staging. Staging refers to the evaluation of organ compromise and cancer dissemination when a nodule is discovered and cancer is suspected. One important surgical step of staging is the sampling of bronchial lymph nodes.
One frequently employed procedure to sample lymph nodes in the thorax and bronchial system is mediastinoscopy. Through an incision made on the anterior portion of the neck, a tubular instrument called a mediastinoscope is inserted and placed anterior to the trachea. The mediastinoscope permits direct visualization of the lymph nodes located in the paratracheal and parabronchial areas. The size of the instrument is large enough to allow the insertion of grabbing tools to dissect regional lymph nodes during surgery. Once removed, the resected lymph nodes are sent to pathology for analysis. This procedure is routinely done before thoracic surgery is performed in most patients with thoracic tumors, in particular, suspected lung cancer.
Although bronchial lymph node visualization and resection through the mediastinoscope is commonly performed, the procedure is not without its problems. For example, the procedure is limited to the taking of one lymph node sample at a time. Since a plurality of lymph node samples are generally required to be resected for proper staging, the procedure can be relatively long. In addition, the instrumentation to grab and resection the lymph node samples is often the cause of problems. For example, surgeons generally utilize long instruments like ring forceps to suspend the target lymph node to be resected and removed. Such instruments can result in the potential squeezing and damage to lymph nodes that may contain cancer cells. Obviously, this is a condition to be avoided.
Hence, there is a need in the art for an improved system and method for the capturing of body tissue samples. More particularly, there is such a need for a system and method for capturing bronchial and thoracic lymph nodes suspected of being cancerous. The present invention addresses that need.
The present invention provides a system for capturing a body tissue sample including a bag formed of a flexible material which includes a first end being opened for receiving a body tissue sample and a second end closed to the body tissue sample and a vacuum tube that receives the bag and directs a vacuum pull through the bag for pulling the body tissue sample into the bag through the first end of the bag.
The bag is preferably elongated from the first end to the second end. Further, the second end of the bag may be configured to permit the body tissue sample to be confined in the bag while permitting the vacuum to pull the body tissue sample into the bag through the first end of the bag. To that end, the bag may include a plurality of holes or be formed from a mesh material.
The vacuum tube may be configured for receiving the bag therein and having a first end for making sealing engagement with the bag first end and having a second end configured for coupling to a vacuum source.
The vacuum tube may include a vacuum control that selectively applies and regulates the vacuum pull to the bag. The vacuum control may be an orifice in the vacuum tube.
The vacuum tube has an inner diameter and preferably a stop mechanism that selectively reduces the inner diameter of the vacuum tube. The stop mechanism may be adjacent the first end of the vacuum tube to initially capture the body tissue sample in the bag between the first end of the vacuum tube and the stop mechanism when the inner diameter of the vacuum tube is reduced. The stop mechanism is further preferably returnable to the inner diameter of the vacuum tube to permit the body tissue sample to be pulled to the second end of the bag.
The present invention still further provides a system for capturing a body tissue sample which includes bag means formed of a flexible material and including an opened end for receiving a body tissue sample and a closed end for capturing the body tissue sample. The system further includes a vacuum tube means for receiving the bag means and directing a vacuum pull through the bag means to pull the body tissue sample into the bag means through the opened end of the bag means.
The present invention still further provides a method of capturing a body tissue sample including the steps of disposing a body tissue sample capture bag adjacent to the body tissue to be sampled, drawing a vacuum through the body tissue sample capture bag to suspend the body tissue sample to be sampled, resecting the body tissue sample, and drawing the body tissue sample into the body tissue sample capture bag under the influence of the vacuum drawn through the body tissue sample capture bag.
The method further includes the steps of loading the body tissue sample bag into a vacuum tube, coupling the vacuum tube to a vacuum source, and energizing the vacuum source to draw the vacuum through the body tissue sample capture bag. The method preferably further includes the steps of reducing a dimension of the vacuum tube before resectioning the body tissue sample to capture the body tissue sample in a proximal portion of the body tissue sample capture bag. Thereafter, the original dimension of the vacuum tube may be restored to draw the body tissue sample to a distal portion of the body tissue sample capture bag under the influence of the vacuum drawn through the body tissue sample capture bag.